LETTER: Using position for patronage

Gary Shipton really must be taken to account of his description of Prince Charles as some benevolent avuncular force for good, standing up for the common man.

Charles comes from the richest and most powerful family in the country and he expects his opinions to be taken account of at the highest political levels.

If he wasn’t deliberately using his position to advantage, then why not write using a pseudonym?

I don’t suppose Tony Blair would have written to a constituent, as he did to Prince Charles, ‘I always value and look forward to your views.’ Each and every one of us has a democratically elected MP though whom we can make our views known.

Gary Shipton suggests that Charles is only passing on comments that might ‘otherwise not penetrate the hated Westminster bubble.’; what hated bubble?

I have always found my MP courteous and receptive of my views. Surely it just shows Charles guilty as charged of using his position for patronage. Some of Charles’ views may be of general interest but most are not; is drystone walling or the illegal fishing of the Patagonian tooth fish keeping the average citizen awake at night? The fact is that he writes on subjects that are dear to him – farming, alternative therapies, education etc.

Charles has no qualifications or expert knowledge on anything other than history. His eccentric preachings have jeopardised the neutrality so carefully respected by our dear Queen. It is not for nothing that his missives are known as black spider letters.

TESSA OSBORNE

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